Day 12

Today we went to visit a church in bugasera. We stepped off the bus to find a beautiful church building, in the middle of the bugasera district, which serves three communities. Before the service started we took the time to go and visit some plants that had been planted in a field by a previous comfort Rwanda team. One of the original planters (archie) was telling us the the plants were orginally tiny. The plants were now huge... Bigger than archie (though that's not saying too much!). The most glorious thing though was that they were bearing fruit. These plants, planted by a previous group, were providing exactly the aid that they were meant to, and exactly the aid that was despirately needed! It was wonderful to see the efforts of the previous group were bearing fruit, and to think that the actions of our group will produce such despirately needed fruit.

After we had seenbthe fields we returned to the church and the service began. Again, the service was one of vibrance and worship. The people welcomed us warmly and praised God richly. The service lasted 4 hrs! Archie preached about Christ - who is our atoning sacrifice and interceeds on our behalf. 1 john 2:1-6. When the service ended we were offered drinks and time to mix with the rwandans.

After we had finished at the church we went to visit comfort village. Comfort village is a village that has been built up over the last few years by donations, from individuals and groups, to build houses for the community. Each of the houses is made of stone and cement and cost £6000 to make. The residents are charged with the care of the property, but are not charged any rent. Solace are in control of the project and established that the greatest need in the community was to build houses.

After our visit to comfort village we visited the genocide memorial in bugasera. This was a church (probably smaller than chryston church hall) where around 5000 Tutsis took shelter during the genocide. The Hutu forces surrounded the church and invaded. They killed almost everyone inside the church in many different and horrific ways. The things that they did are too horrible to mention here. The Hutus slaughtered the tutsis that had taken refuge there. Only 10 of the 5000 survived. Those 10 only survived because they were hidden underneath the dead. The church was still filled with the clothes of those who died there. The church also contained the tomb of a girl who was violently gang raped, then murdered. Outside the church was a memorial to a nun who had tried to warn the outside world that the genocide was taking place. In the grounds of the church were tombs containing the bones of all those killed in the area during the genocide. The entire team were emotionally devistated to see these things and hear these stories. We sat, as a group, heads in our hands feeling such sorrow. The question on everyones mind was "how could these things be allowed to happen?"

God answered this question for me. He told me that we had fallen so far because of sin. He told me that, while we are a people who seek to know Christ and become like him, the people who did these things did not know him and had turned in the opposite direction. He also told me of the need to spread the name of Christ all over the world. We must lift the name of Christ high, that all may come to know him, all may come to seek him and all may become like him. Only then will these things be gone.

After the trip to the genocide memorial we all went to safari's house for lunch/dinner. We spent some much needed time in fellowship, eating, talking and worshipping God. This simple time of worship was such a juxtaposition from the genocide memorial. It showed us that, while there is such sorrow in the past, the people of Rwanda are letting the sorrow leave them and embracing the joy of the lord. Alleluia!

Please pray for the teams last day together. Please pray that it would be a good time of fellowship, that the friendships would remain when we leave and that people would carry what they have learned home and that it would change their hearts.

Comfort Rwanda team.

Day 14

Really the only way to describe the team at the moment is exhausted. Our first flight left at 1am Rwandan time and second left nairobi at 7:10am Rwandan time. I think every member of the team has managed a few hours sleep, but I don't think anyone has had a good sleep.

For me, the journey - thus far - has been a great chance to reflect on the trip as a whole. I'll post sone final reflects tomorrow, after i've had a good nights sleep, but I think one of the key things I've noticed in the last two weeks was the joy of the rwandans. they do not spend their days asking "why me God?" or "why did this happen to me?" or even "do you even love me lord?". Instead they spend their time praising God, loving him for his grace, his provision, his salvation and his unfailing love. Without God, Rwanda would be dead. It is by the grace of God that Rwanda has survived and knows joy. Rwanda has known such sorrow, but instead of embracing it, they have left it at the cross, and instead embrace the joy of the Lord. Simply amazing!

We are currently sitting in Amsterdam airport waiting for our final flight hone. Please pray that all goes smoothly, that we would all arrive safely, that the second group would have a smooth journey and that they would arrive home safely too.

Thank you
Comfort Rwanda team

Day 13

Today was the final day in Rwanda. The trip seems to have gone so quickly but I think we ate all completely shattered from it.

Today we went to visit a group of genocide survivors in Rahooha (yes... I did make that spelling up! I'm sorry!) When we arrived in Rahooha, we again went to visit some more plants that a previous group had planted for the community. As with yesterday, it was wonderful to see the fruit coming to bear from previous work done by comfort Rwanda groups. It gave us such a feeling of hope for the work that we have been doing over here in the last 2 weeks. We then attended a service in which we were welcomed warmly, told stories by various survivors and invited to preach to them. David was preaching about Jeremiah 29:11... God having plans for our lives. After his sermon, craig gave his testimony speaking about how God has been working in his life, even though craig didn't believe in God all of the time, God was still working to draw Craig in. After David and craig had spoken one of the Rwandans spoke and said that he believed the survival of that community was evidence that God exists. He believes that if God did not exist, and if God had not been watching over rthem, then they would have been wiped out.

After church we had a quick football game - Scotland vs Rwanda. There were about 6 scots vs about 15 rwandans. Scotland won 5-4! And graeme managed to fall over again!

After the game of football we went to visit a girl who had been orphaned by the genocide. She was the oldest of 3 siblings and raised money by ploughing her neighbours gardens. She told us that by doing this she made around 60 pence a day, which she despirately needed to support her family. She also told us that she would love to get into sewing, but she wasn't able to afford to do the training. Sewing would be a far more lucrative job and really help her to support her family.

After this home visit, we returned to solace so that the group who are leaving tonight could get some chance to pack before going to pastor paul's house for dinner. By the time we got back to solace, we had about 45 mins to pack, and shower, before going to dinner. Gotta love a challenge! When we did arrive at pastor paul's house we were very tight for time for us to eat and then get back and get to the airport. We had some good time of fellowship, some music, some great food but sadly it was cut short by our need to get to the airport. Pastor Paul said a final farewell to us, in which he said that the important thing was that we came. Rwanda needs people to come, to see what has happened, to help them move on, to see the hope there is in Christ and to spread the word of Christ throughout the land. That was our most important function, that we saw what had happened, and we saw how people were moving on.

We did, thankfully, make it to the airport in time for out 1am flightly leaving Kigali. Now all that remains is the epic flight back. Fun.

Can you please pray for put safe travel home and the second group, who have tomorrow in Rwanda, and fly out on Wednesday morning at 3am

Thank you
Comfort Rwanda team

Day 11

Today we were working with some of the kids from friends of Jesus to machete the over growth that was on the site where the college will be built. (did that make sense?) I think quite a few of the guys had really been looking forward to the chance to do this - just a chance to use machettes and hack at some over growth... What's not to love?

Unfortunately at breakfast quite a few of the team (myself included) were not feeling very well. After some prayer (thanks David), some paracetomol and a whole lot of water we set out in the hope that we would be ok.

We arrived at about 10:30 and got started hacking away in pairs - one cutting and the other watching that there was no danger to anyone else. It was good fun, but hard work. We made sure that we were switching positions regularly so that we didn't get too tired. It felt good to be using our energy to do something really simple, but really helpful. The bus left us there and went to collect the friends of Jesus who were going to help us.

When the friends of Jesus arrived they spread out through the groups and started taking turns to cut. The friends of Jesus were very good at cutting the over growth and made their way through large parts of it fairly well. We had some good chats with some of them, while others cut, and then we switched places. After a couple of hours work, we had cut a down a big section of over growth and decided it was lunch time. We all climbed onto the bus, took the friends of Jesus back to the church, and headed into Kigali for lunch.

After lunch we returned to the church to meet up with the friends of Jesus. We spent some time with them there, playing games, singing songs, organising stuff and generally having a good time with them. After a few hours we returned to the hotel. For the first time on the trip we had an opportunity to go swimming and a few of us made the most of it. The pool was freezing, but it was just lovely to relax and swim.

The rest of the day was spent having dinner, reflecting on the day and relaxing. At reflections we considered the insanity of the whole trip. We thought about the things we keep seeing, and that they don't seem to be people acting normally. You would think that when someone does something horrific to you, the normal reaction is to hate them... So why is it that we keep seeing people forgiving one another?

Day 10

I apologise in advance for this post. Towards the end it discusses, in detail, the horrible things that happened to a genocide survivor. If you don't feel you want to read that please skip paragraph 5. It is included so that, those who want to, can get a taste of the horrors of the genocide. It is not included for shock value, but more so that we can see God working in this place.

1. We started today by setting off to visit the high school that pastor paul's children attend. It was their last day of term, and the kids were having their last exams before breaking up for their school holidays.

2. When we got to the high school, we were told that the kids were just finished their exams and were waiting for their parents to arrive to take them home. The head teacher met us and took us on a tour of some of the classrooms. We then stood out in the courtyard talking to a group of the school kids. Some of us were talking, others singing and some others took the opportunity to kick a football around. The kids were wonderful to talk to and to sing with. Pastor Paul had told me that a group of the kids met up for worship on Sundays, on campus, because they didn't go home at weekends and because they prefered that than to walk to the local church. He told me that this was something they arranged themselves. I felt really challenged by this, because it's not something that I would have done when I was their age. I think I would have convinced myself that I would walk into town for church, then, when the alarm went off on Sunday morning, rolled over and went back to sleep. It was a great testiment to their faith, and their hunger for God, that they were keen to do that.

3. Having finished at the school, we then went to the house of another person who was part of the healing and reconsiliation project. We spent the rest of the afternoon, and the start of the evening, helping this lady cement her floor. Men arrived and dumped a truck load of sand and a truck load of cement which we had to carry to moira's house. It wasn't very far that we had to carry it, but there was a lot of sand and a lot of cement that needed to be moved. It was good, enjoyable work, but very very tiring. Everyone was working together as a team to move this sand and help Moirai as much as possible. The sand was heavy to move, as was the cement, but everyone on the team, and a lot of kids from the community, were all helping - which meant that the job got done reasonably quickly. To put it in context, had you tried to move all of that sand and cement by yourself - using nothing but shovels and bags - it would have taken you weeks. Instead, it took the group of us a few hours. It was brilliant to think how great an effect this would have on moira's life - and all it took was a couple of hours of our time. It was also an excellent feeling to just be practically helping someone in such a meaningful way. (with that said, my t-shirt is completely ruined!)

4. I was touched today by the willingness of everyone to give of their time, and their energy, to help this lady out.

5. During reflections this evening pastor john told us a little of moira's story. He told us that during the genocide almost her entire family were killed. She was left with no one except her two grandsons. She was also brutally raped by a large group of men and who then cut into her head and left her for dead. As a result of the rape she contracted HIV. I think
This was such a stark reminder for the group of what we are still dealing with here, and the pain and suffering that people have endured. It is also a huge example to us of the kind of obsticles that our God is able to overcome! This lady was raped, repeatedly. She contracted a deadly desease because of this. Most of her family were killed. Yet she still praises God. Yet she still dances and sings with delight for what the Lord has done in her life! Stunning!

I think the feeling from the group today was that we were all exhausted, but that it felt awesome to do something practical to help someone.

Please pray that we continue to be a blessing to the Rwandan people and that our fellowship remain strong.

Comfort Rwanda team

Ps Kirsty asked me to mention her in the blog... So there we go!

Day 8

Today was our last day at the school. On route to the school today we stopped by a small refugee camp on the boarder of Rwanda, Uganda and tanzania. The camp contained about 18 families who had fled Rwanda and were just in the process of returning. Most of the families had been in the camp for several years, but had no where else to go. The camp was very sparse. Again there was no clean water source - the only source of water was the same reservoir as served gakagati. The camp was fairly small, containing small huts each eith a garden for growing crops. It is amazing how so many people can live on so little, relying on nothing but the provision of God.

After visiting the camp, we continued on to the school for our final sessions. Again the kids were delighted to see us. We started the day with an assembly, after which we split into classes and started running activities. The first sports group was primary 1 and contained roughly 160 kids! The team were all exhausted, and most of us were feeling rather unwell, but we were given the strength to carry on, and give the kids one final day of real enjoyment. At lunch time we held one final assembly for the kids in which we said goodbye. We told them that we would always remember them and that we would continue to pray for them to come to know Christ.

Having finished at the school, we went to the same house again for lunch. All completely exhausted we sat for ages eating, speaking little and just recovering some strength. Again, the ladies that owned the house had provided food for us. It was different from what we would normally eat, and enjoy, but we were just so thankful for the provision of something. After we had eaten we said a huge thank you to the ladies, who had given the best they had for us, and then got back on the bus and returned to solace. We were all filthy, and shattered, so the bus tide home was a great chance for us to just rest.

When we returned to solace, we were all hungry, tired, muddy and thankful for the chance to eat and then clean ourselves.

Before most of us cleaned ourselves, we took the time to sit, as a group, and reflect on the days at gakagati. Paul was leading the reflections, and told the group of his desire to try to start attending church. He told us that he had talked to craig who had told him that if he did not like the first church, to keep try and not lose faith, to keep going until he finds a home. What a glorious answer to prayer that is!

When craig and I returned to our room, we talked about how one of us should try to speak to paul about how to become a Christian. We decided to pray for him, and see if he approaches one of us.

Once we had showered craig, matthew, Paul, conner and myself went down to the church hall in solace, and sang song of worship. We were all shattered, but somehow found the energy to praise god. It was amazing. Our god is an awesome God! We then spent some time in prayer, then went to bed. Such an amazing day.

Please continue to pray for the school kids. They need help. They need a God who can give them all things. They need our God! Please also continue to pray for Paul and the other members of the team. That they would come to know Christ and have a deeper, and renewed relationship with him.

Amen
Comfort Rwanda team

Day 9

After a good sleep, a good breakfast and a great wash, the team are now feeling refreshed and restored. After breakfast we set off to visit the healing and reconsiliation project. This is a project run by pastor Paul between perpatrators and victims of the genocide. At the project the victims and the perpatrators work together to rebuild houses destroyed by the genocide.

At the project, the team got involved in helping to build two of the houses. Some of us were stomping mud, others carrying the mud into the house and some of us throwing mud against the Walls. It was great fun! After we had helped for a short time, we cleaned ourselves off and listened to the testimonies of those involved in building the house. The victim had suffered the loss of her entire family (10 kids & all her brothers and sisters) leaving only her two grandsons alive. The perpatrator had been one of the group involved in murdering her family. Yet here the two were reconsiled with one another, forgiving one another, and working together to rebuild both her house and the community. It was simply amazing! To see such forgiveness. Such an amazing ability to leave the hurt at the cross and move on. The work of God is truly amazing!

After we had worked on the houses, we had lauch and then attended two outreach services. The first of which was held in a garden outside a public hall, the second was held in a church. Graeme was preaching at both services and spoke about the restoration of peter. He spoke fairly powerfully, saying that Jesus was asking a simple question to everyone "do you love me?" At the end of each sermon Graeme asked if anyone could hear Jesus speaking to them, and if they did asked them to raise their hands if they wanted pastor Paul to pray for them, that they would come to know the healing and forgiving power of the cross. At the end of both services, people raised their hands. Through the power of God working in those places, people were saved.

It was amazing to see the power of God at work in those places... To see what God is doing there, the rebuilding of communities, the reconsiliation. The forgiveness! Amazing! Our God is an awesome God.

At reflections Paul and conner both told us they had been extremely moved by what had been said and the sermons in the two churches. I spoke to paul and suggested to him that he speak to someone he trusts in the group about how to become a Christian, and what it means to be a Christian. I also said to him that although he perhaps wasn't ready to become a Christian it would still be good for him to know.

Can you please pray for the people in the healing and reconsiliation project who heard me preach and were touch by it. Could you please pray that they continue to hear God's call on their life, that they know the healing power of the cross and come to know God. Can you also continue to pray for Paul, conner and the rest of the team that the friendship and fellowship would remain strong.

Amen
Comfort rwanda team